Helena Pachón, PhD, MPHResearch Professor
Biography
Helena Pachón is an Instructor with the Center for the Study of Human Health. She also holds a joint appointment as a Research Director with the Food Fortification Initiative and as a Research Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health. She received her BS in biology, MS and PhD in nutrition at Cornell University and her MPH at Harvard University.
At the Center, she teaches global health nutrition courses, mentors students completing research and communication of that research, and directs a study abroad program in Peru.
As a public health nutritionist, Dr. Pachón is privileged to work at the intersection of research and practice. This has been a theme throughout her career: favoring applied research that was a few steps away from being acted upon by policy makers and program decision-makers.
She was instrumental in developing and building capacity for an infant and young child nutrition tool that has been used in many countries to improve complementary feeding programming. Currently, she contributes to the science base on grain fortification and provides advocacy and technical assistance to improve food fortification practices at the global, regional and national levels.
Current and recent research and programmatic collaborators include:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USA)
- Cochrane Response (UK)
- ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
- Fundación Santa Fé De Bogotá (Colombia)
- George Washington University (USA)
- Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (Switzerland)
- International Atomic Energy Agency (Austria)
- Iodine Global Network (Canada)
- Johns Hopkins University (USA)
- Micronutrient Forum (USA)
- National Institutes of Health (USA)
- Nutrition International (Canada)
- TechnoServe (USA)
- UNICEF (USA)
- Universidad de La Sabana (Colombia)
- University of Alabama at Birmingham (USA)
- University of California, Davis (USA)
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA)
- University of Oxford (UK)
- US Agency for International Development (USA)
- USAID Advancing Nutrition (USA)
- USAID AFFORD (USA)
- World Health Organization (Switzerland)
Infant and Young Child Nutrition
Infant and young child nutrition was the focus of the earlier part of her career. She coordinated the development of ProPAN version 1.0, a tool used globally to assess and plan infant and young child nutrition interventions. Subsequently, she participated in the update of the tool (version 2.0), trained individuals from many countries in its use, and provided technical assistance in its implementation worldwide. These are illustrative publications from her ProPAN work:
- Rasheed S, Haider R, Hassan N, Pachón H, Islam S, Jalal CSB, Sanghvi TG. Why does child nutrition deteriorate rapidly among under two’s? Using qualitative methods to understand community perspectives on complementary feeding practices in Bangladesh. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 32(3):192-200, 2011.
- Daelmans B, Ferguson E, Lutter CK, Singh N, Pachón H, Creed-Kanashiro H, Woldt M, Mangasaryan N, Cheung E, Mir R, Pareja R, Briend A. Designing appropriate complementary feeding recommendations: Tools for programmatic action. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 9 (Suppl. 2):116-130, 2013.
- PAHO/WHO & UNICEF. ProPAN v 2.0: Process for the Promotion of Child Feeding. Pan American Health Organization & UNICEF: Washington DC, 2013. Full text: www.paho.org/propan
Crop Biofortification
Since obtaining her doctorate, Dr. Pachón has worked on food-based approaches to address undernutrition, and specifically micronutrient malnutrition. She worked for several years at the intersection of agriculture and nutrition with crop biofortification: naturally breeding staple crops to have higher nutrient levels.
At the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), she contributed to the evidence base on consumer acceptability, bioavailability and biological impact of biofortified crops, as well as developed methodologies to use existing data to identify locations to promote biofortified crops. At CIAT, Dr. Pachón was the founding director of the Center’s Nutrition Quality Laboratory. Illustrative examples of her biofortification work are as follows:
- Ortega Alemán EdC, Coulson Romero AJ, Ordóñez Argueta LI, Pachón H. Efectos de la ingesta de maíz de alta calidad de proteína (QPM) versus maíz convencional en el crecimiento y la morbilidad de niños nicaragüenses desnutridos de 1 a 5 años de edad / [The effect of consuming quality protein maize or conventional maize on the growth and morbidity of malnourished Nicaraguan children 1 to 5 years of age]. Archivos Latinoamericanos de Nutrición, 58(4):377-385, 2008.
- Pachón H, Ortiz DA, Araujo C, Blair MW, Restrepo J. Iron, zinc and protein bioavailability proxy measures of meals prepared with nutritionally enhanced beans and maize. Journal of Food Science, 74(5):H147-H154, 2009.
- Zapata-Caldas E, Hyman G, Pachón H, Monserrate FA, Vesga Varela L. Identifying candidate sites for crop biofortification in Latin America: Case studies in Colombia, Nicaragua and Bolivia. International Journal of Health Geographics, 8:29, 2009. doi:10.1186/1476-072X-8-29.
- Imbachí-Narváez PC, Gutiérrez D, Ortiz D, Pachón H. Evaluación del valor nutricional de recetas típicas elaboradas con maíz común y biofortificado en el Departamento del Cauca, Colombia / [Assessing the nutritional value of typical recipes prepared from common and biofortified maize in Cauca Department, Colombia]. Salud Pública de México, 52(4):305-314, 2010.
Food Fortification
Currently, Dr. Pachón generates and collates evidence on the public health impact of industrial fortification: adding vitamins and minerals to staple foods as they are processed for human consumption. Additionally, she contributes to the global discourse on setting fortification guidelines and identifying best practices. Illustrative publications of her fortification work are listed below:
- Loechl CU, Datta-Mitra A, Fenlason L, Green R, Hackl L, Itzkowitz L, Koso-Thomas M, Moorthy D, Owino VO, Pachón H, Stoffel N, Zimmerman MB, Raiten DJ. Approaches to Address the Anemia Challenge. Journal of Nutrition, 2023.
- Uerling J, Nieckula E, Mico K, Bonifaz Rosas A, Cohen E, Pachón H.Salt-containing recipes in popular magazines with the highest circulation in the United States do not specify iodized salt in the ingredient list. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(5): 4595, 2023.
- Rondini KA, Xu W, Chai Y, Pachón H, Kancherla V. National Mandatory Grain Fortification Legislation Decreases Anemia Prevalence Among Non-Pregnant Women of Reproductive Age: Findings from Multiple Demographic and Health Surveys. Journal of Nutrition, 152(12):2922-2930, 2023.
- Bobrek KS, Broersen B, Aburto NJ, Garg A, Serdula M, Beltrán Velázquez F, Wong EC, Pachón H. Most national, mandatory flour fortification standards do not align with international recommendations for iron, zinc, and vitamin B12 levels. Food Policy, 99:101996, 2021.
- Walani SR, Hiebert L, Pachón H, Mwaisaka R. Prevention of birth defects in East Africa: a review of national policies. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 20(3):15740-63, 2020.
- Fothergill A, Fonseca Centeno ZY, Ocampo Téllez PR, Pachón H. Consumption of fortified wheat flour and associations with anemia and low serum ferritin in Colombia. Perspectivas en Nutrición Humana, 21(2):159-71, 2019.
- Centeno Tablante E, Pachón H, Guetterman HM, Finkelstein JL. Fortification of wheat and maize flour with folic acid for population health outcomes (Review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 7:Article Number CD012150, 2019.
- Imhoff-Kunsch B, Shakya I, Diatalau Namohunu SA, Pitaboe A, Wong P, Tsang BL, Codling K, Foley J, Pachón H. Potential dietary contributions from rice and wheat flour fortification in the Solomon Islands: results from the 2012-13 Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 40(1):71-86, 2019.
- Peña-Rosas JP, García-Casal MN, Pachón H, Mclean MS, Arabi M. Technical considerations for maize flour and corn meal fortification in public health: Consultation rationale and summary. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1312(1):1-7, 2014.
Student Mentorship
Throughout her career, Dr. Pachón has mentored over 80 Emory students, including undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduate students have completed diverse activities with Dr. Pachón such as:
- Conducting research for an honor’s thesis, for independent research credit, and for extra credit in a course.
- Presenting research at Emory’s undergraduate research symposium, national nutrition conferences (such as for the American Society for Nutrition) and international nutrition conferences (such as for the Micronutrient Forum).
- Developing stories, infographics and videos to reach a non-scientific audience.
Courses Taught
At the Center for the Study of Human Health, Dr. Pachón has developed and taught several undergraduate courses:
- Global Nutrition Program Design / Who Decides the World’s Diet?
- Double Burden of Malnutrition
- Epidemiology of Obesity
- Maternal and Child Nutrition
- Nutrition and Chronic Disease
- Foundations of Global Health
Her courses help students meet their requirements for the
STUDY ABROAD
Dr Pachón developed the Global Health Nutrition in Peru study abroad program. Emory students spend four weeks studying the Epidemiology of Obesity side-by-side with nutrition and dietetic undergraduate students affiliated with the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) in Peru’s capital.
Through living in Lima, interacting with UPC students, and engaging in cultural excursions, students gain a greater understanding of obesity and its social determinants.